HONG KONG — One of the most prominent Tibetan religious leaders in Chinese custody has died, a family member and a Tibetan exile group said on Monday.

The religious leader, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, died while serving a prison sentence on charges of “terrorism and inciting separatism” in Sichuan Province, his cousin Geshe Nyima said by telephone from Dharamsala, India. Students for a Free Tibet, a Tibetan exile group based in New York, also reported his death, citing family members and other people close to the monk.

Chinese officials informed Tenzin Delek’s two younger sisters of his death by telephone on Sunday, offering no further details, his cousin said. The sisters could not immediately be reached.

Tenzin Delek was arrested in April 2002 in connection with a series of bombings in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital. In December of that year, he was given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, meaning that the threat of execution would be lifted after two years, contingent upon good behavior. A co-defendant was executed in 2003.

Tenzin Delek denied the charges against him, Human Rights Watch said in 2004, citing a tape recording secretly smuggled out of prison. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

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Tenzin Delek RinpocheCredit
Students for a Free Tibet

The monk was a community leader among Tibetans in eastern Sichuan and had spoken out against deforestation, Tenzin Dolkar, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, wrote in an email. “Tenzin Delek’s activism on this range of issues made him a target of the Chinese authorities, who for 10 years attempted to limit his work and influence,” she wrote.

Tens of thousands of supporters in his home county of Litang in eastern Sichuan signed a petition demanding the monk’s release, she wrote.

Tenzin Delek’s family was last allowed to visit him in a prison in Chengdu in November 2013, his cousin said. Last year, the family requested that he be released on medical parole, citing a heart condition. The request went unanswered, his cousin said.

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Last week, he said, local officials told relatives that they would finally be allowed to visit Tenzin Delek. Two sisters traveled to Chengdu to visit the monk, but their appointment was repeatedly postponed. On Sunday, they were informed that he had died, his cousin said.

Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister for the Tibetan government in exile, said on the government’s website that the Chinese authorities had disregarded numerous appeals for medical parole. “Such mistreatment will only generate more resentment among Tibetans,” he said.

The prominent Tibetan writer Woeser described Tenzin Delek in a blog post last year as a “moral and spiritual authority” for thousands of Tibetans. Referring to the repeated calls for his release from Tibetans in China, she wrote, “No support has ever been more persistent, more loyal and more desperate.”

Correction: July 13, 2015

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the executive director of Students for a Free Tibet. The director, Tenzin Dolkar, is a woman.

Correction: July 21, 2015

An earlier version of this article misstated, using information from a biography, the length of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s prison term. According to reports in Chinese state-run news media, he was serving a life sentence, not a 20-year sentence.